第9回：始まる

2021年10月20日、かしわば記念クリニックが開院した。外来の機能分化を構想してから一年の開院であった。コロナ禍でのレジリエンスにはいくつかの策が必要であった。コロナを一刻も早く収束させるためのワクチン接種。法人のワクチンセンターでは17,000名のワクチン接種を行った。コロナ病棟の開設。6月から80名超の患者さんの治療を行った。そして病院機能の分離・分散。物理的に一つの病院内に多くの機能を置くことのリスクを実感した。当院の外来の構造上救急患者さんと一般外来の患者さんの導線を分けることは難しく、また十分な換気が出来なかったこともクリニックを開院する動機となった。あらたなクリニックは完全予約制とし患者さんの院内停滞を最短とする。検査日と診察日をわけ過不足ない検査と丁寧な診察を実践する。雑然とした外来の中で行われていた脳ドックはシックでプライバシーの担保された診察室でゆったりと説明される。今後政府が主導・誘導するであろう訪問診療のハブにもなってほしい。

かしわば記念クリックは柏葉会が目指すシームレス医療のミッションを背負ってスタートした。今回院長をお願いした藤本真先生とは30年近い付き合いになる。患者さんに優しく、粘り強い先生だ。昔、彼の恵まれない職場環境を憂いて私は病院を変わることを勧めた。職場環境は最悪だがパラメディカルのために残ると彼は言った。任侠精神は院長の大切な資質だと思う。開院前の夜に彼が時間をかけて撮った渾身の一枚を見てほしい。かしわばの新たな50年が始まる。

Director's blog
Episode 9: Beginning

Kashiwaba Kinen Clinic opened its doors on October 20, 2021. This date marked one year after we had first thought to differentiate the functions of our outpatient clinic. Making ourselves resilient to the Covid disaster required taking several measures. Vaccinations were crucial to bring Covid under control as quickly as possible. We vaccinated 17,000 people at our corporate vaccine center. Then our Covid ward was opened. Over 80 patients were treated from June onwards. We separated and dispersed hospital functions. We realized the risk of physically placing many functions in one hospital. The structure of our outpatient clinic made it difficult to separate emergency patients from general outpatients, and the lack of adequate ventilation also motivated us to open the new clinic. Our new clinic will run on an appointment-only system to minimize the time patients spend in the hospital. The clinic will divide its days into examination days and consultation days to ensure that appropriate examinations and thorough consultations are done. The brain checkups, which used to be conducted in the chaotic outpatient clinic, will be carefully explained in chic and private examination rooms. I hope that the clinic will also become a hub for home visits, which the government is expected to spearhead and dictate in the future.

Kashiwaba Kinen Clinic was started to accomplish the mission of providing the sort of seamless medical care that the Hakuyokai aims for. I have known Dr. Shin Fujimoto, newly appointed director of this clinic, for almost 30 years now. He is a doctor who is determined and kind to his patients. In the past, I recommended that he switch hospitals because I was concerned about the unfortunate work environment he was in at the time. He said he would stay to continue his work in paramedicine even though the work environment was terrible. I think a chivalrous spirit is an important quality for a hospital director. I would like you to take a look at one of the best pictures he took the night before the clinic opened. This is the start of the next 50 years for Kashiwba.